Kirsten Flower Named New Women’s Tennis Assistant Coach

Sep 13, 2012

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The women's tennis team has added a new assistant coach to the staff in Kirsten Flower, who is following up an accomplished tennis career with a new job teaching the next generation.

Flower played her collegiate tennis at Georgia Tech her freshman and sophomore years before transferring to Ohio State for her final two years of collegiate play. In college, her singles ranking peaked at No. 18 while playing at the No. 1 spot. She was a member of Georgia Tech teams that won the National Championship and the ITA National Indoor Championship. Among numerous other awards, Flower was the captain of the Ohio State team her senior year, was named to the All-Big Ten team twice and was also on the Academic All-Big Ten team.

After college, Flowers joined the WTA Tour, which she played on for almost two years. Participating in both international and domestic tournaments, Flower earned a high ranking of 505 in doubles and 996 in singles, and finished 2011 at 506 and 1068, respectively.

In terms of coaching, Flower first taught tennis at Georgia Tech summer tennis camps in 2007. She began work for Elysium Tennis, an Ohio tennis club, as a teaching professional in 2009, where she continued working up until being hired by Yale.

Head Coach Danielle McNamara, on the newest addition to her staff, said that she is "so thrilled to have Kirsten join our coaching staff. She brings a tremendous amount of experience as one of the best collegiate players in the country, as well as being a member of some incredibly successful teams. Kirsten shares our programs values and will be an excellent role model and teacher for our players. I look forward to continuing to build our program as one of the nations best with the help of Kirsten."

Flower has also won three national Father-Daughter championships with her father, Jim Flower.

Flower will be taking the spot of Christian Thompson, who is now the assistant coach of the women's tennis team at Denver University.